Unused Good Stuff

The California Arts Council provides impressive statistics about the benefits of the arts for California youth: "Dance has a positive impact on students’ mental and physical health, improving their mood and body image, and decreasing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Dance training has a positive impact on academic learning and that participation in the arts helps to develop a young person’s thinking skills and social interactions Low-income students with high arts engagement are more than twice as likely to graduate college as their peers with no arts education. A high concentration of arts in a city is associated with less poverty, more civic engagement and greater social cohesion. In short, underserved youth , along with the communities in which they reside, experience positive effects through participation in dance/arts programs."